Monday, March 13, 2017

GoT Stark Mavens and the Double Ds

Sophie Turner and Maisie Williams "moderate" a discussion with Game of Thrones creators David Benioff and D. B. Weiss, at SXSW, on March 12. The first time moderators entertain hundreds at the festival with their effortless charm.

Sophie Turner and Maisie Williams showed off their matching tattoos at South by Southwest. 07.08.09—the date they were cast in Game of Thrones.

Moderating a discussion with David Benioff and D. B. Weiss, the show’s creators, the two women (yes, they’re all grown up!) were candid and charmingly awkward. Reading from cue cards, the GoT stars fumbled the wording of questions, talked in funny voices to emphasize their authority as moderators, swore and generally won the hearts of hundreds at SXSW who waited in line to see the Stark badasses.

“Which house would you identify with the most?” said Williams, who plays Arya Stark in the show. Both women exaggerated lounging in their chairs and batting their eyelashes while they waited for the “right” response.

With two more seasons left to air until one of the most popular shows of all time (which Benioff calls a 73-hour movie) comes to an end, the world is wondering who will be the victor of the game of thrones.

Spoilers were a topic of discussion, with Season 7 filmed and coming out this summer. At one point, the creators were complaining about the two actresses dying their hair. Williams pointed out she currently has the same color as her character, but Turner (GoT’s red-haired Sansa Stark) is currently a blond.

“They’re not going to tell anyone,” Benioff said about the thousand or so in the audience. “So it’s cool.”

The women’s questions for the Double Ds (David and D.B. to the diehards) included “Describe the most significant way getting to know us has made you better people” and “The show’s demographic is younger than many HBO shows. How is that possible considering you’re so fucking old?”

Turner and Williams asked them to recount behind the scenes antics, such as Benioff breaking his hand during a game of hand slap with the 250-pound Jason Momoa, who plays Khal Drogo in the show.

The creators also played a gag on Kit Harington, who plays Jon Snow, by convincing him his character was going to get his perfect perfect face mangled and continue that way on the show—forever.

And Nikolaj Coster-Waldau (Jaime Lannister) tricked them when he sent a photo of himself with a shaved head, a couple weeks before filming. After lawyers got involved and the creators began shopping for a “prince-charming wig,” Coster-Waldau confessed the photo was years old.

The Double Ds told the Stark sisters they should try to top those gags. They have one last chance.